That's not bad. Not bad at all. :-) Just got to keep focussed - far too many little 'treats' and slip-ups at the moment, really. Sweets, small chocolates, the occasional latte with syrup, etc. I excuse it as 'small' at the time, and I account for it in my food diary, but when I add up at the end of the day, it's disappointing to note how many of these little extras are sneaking through now. Definitely something to watch out for. That said, the way I'm currently eating and exercising is enough for a nice steady 2lbs a week weightloss, pretty much - in theory, if I did more exercise, or ate less food, I'd lose more weight, but the point of this year is sustainability of habit, and a weightloss I can maintain. Definitely need to focus a little better, of course, and I will.
Last night I just went home after meeting a friend for a post-work cuppa and chat. I had thought about going to the gym, and had my kit with me, but by 6:30pm my heart was no longer in it, and I decided going home for dinner and an early night was better. This morning I was at the gym nice and early, and a good session of squats, circuits, and stepper. Very sweaty, and only a tiny bit sweary - but a good way to start the day. A grilled steak for breakfast afterwards was even better... ;-)
Grilled steak for breakfast, you're turning into a body builder :-)
ReplyDeleteI admire how honest you are being with your little treats, not just with us which doesn't really matter, but to yourself, this has to be a big part of how your weight-loss this year has been so impressive.
How are you finding things almost two months in, as time goes is it getting easier/harder?
I'm actually finding it harder - I was thinking about this, this morning. I have other tabs on the spreadsheet I'm keeping where I record my daily steps and daily kcals, and the weeks where I've lost nearly 3lbs are all ones where my average daily step count is over 10,000, and my average daily kcal intake is under 1400. If either of those two figures isn't met, even if the other is substantially better, the weightloss is smaller. Then I thought about how the last couple of weeks I've struggled with keeping my step count up, blaming the weather or work, etc. and the little treats have been bringing my daily kcal intake up a little and a little and a little... all still such that I'm still losing weight, but the more I lose a real focus on what I'm doing, the easier it is to slip back towards old habits; taking the car to work, staying at my desk through lunchbreaks, excusing that 10am cadbury's creme egg, or whatever... In the main, I'm still eating good meals and getting some good workouts done, but if I continue getting a little complacent about what I'm doing, before I know it I'll be having takeways "because it's been a really busy day", or I'll have 4 rest days in a week "because work was really busy and I couldn't muster any energy for the gym or a run", and so on. This last couple of weeks, I already increased weekly rest days from 2 to 3, without any thought about what I was doing. So, I guess what I'm saying is the concentration and focus required to REALLY be successful at this, is hard work.
DeleteHopefully the longer time goes on, the more my habits and way of thinking will adjust, and it *won't* be as difficult, but for now, I need to get a wee bit more vigilent. More so, though, I need to keep fighting the messages and expectations I give myself internally, the way I speak to myself - and that's the hardest part of all of this.
Keepings logs of eating and exercise is clearly paying dividends - it allows one to spot the causal links with eating, exercise and weight loss. These correlations are in theory obvious as they've been said many many times in books and the media, but actually seeing the cold hard data in front of you turns something that others day happens, to something that is exactly your own experiment of one.
DeleteThis log taking and seeing patterns/correlations is something I found useful in my ultra-marathon training and racing.
However, as you explain it's only a fraction of the story, the physical, mental and emotional challenge of fighting old habits day in day out is big challenge. With such a big calorie deficit that you are working to for weight loss pushes the body and mind harder. It's likely that your body will be more physically stressed on average and respond by upping the Cortisol levels to keep your blood sugars topped up. I've read that Cortisol also can have negative effects on your mood/thought processes. So that internal battle to resit the old habits will no doubt be tougher.
Perhaps the one way to get on top of the mental challenge is to track when your mental resolve is most challenged. I'd expect sleep will be strongly correlated with mental fatigue and resolve, and low blood sugar will be another big one. Getting a regular good nights sleep and planning food and exercise out so that blood sugar levels down fluctuate too much.
Low GI foods will help with provide more stable blood sugar levels, and after workouts a recovery drink consume right after might help fend off low blood sugar and acute hunger, as well as. My favourite recovery drink is chocolate milkshake and home-made yoghurt drink.
Practising mindfulness throughout the day might help with keeping the Cortisol levels down as well. All those hectic workdays with lots of meetings is challenging for stress levels, with my own work I've started trying to remember to take a few minutes before and after to centre oneself to make sure stress levels don't go unchecked.
Or am I just making this all too complicated :-)
Not too complicated, I'm with you entirely. :-)
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